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Some Confessors like the guessing games on this site.
Others find it annoying and even improper. That's OK. I don't mind the criticism, if expressed in tones conventionally disgusted.
I don't want to whine, but put yourself in my shoes for a moment.
This site had its third anniversary last Saturday. That's 469 posts, counting this one.
Basically covering (1) the station as a whole (CTO, signal, internal politics), (2) The Musers, and (3) The Hardline. There are posts about Norm but not a lot of them. A few more about BaD but again, not a conspicuous feature of this site. An occasional visit to other stations.
You know I'm not a Ticket insider, and you'd need a scanning electron microscope to find the inside information I've received from genuine insiders.
Which means that if I'm going to generate new material on this site more than once every couple of weeks or so, I've basically got two sources to draw on: I can comment on stuff that I've heard, which is far from the majority of the broadcast day and only, on average, about half of The Musers and The Hardline. The stuff I've heard you've heard too. It can be fun to comment on that and get your reactions, but after awhile, let's face it, there's not a lot new out there. You want another column about Hardline potty mouth? I didn't think so.
Or I can listen real carefully when I do listen, and speculate about stuff that the Nation speculates about, and sometimes I come up with stuff that maybe it hasn't thought of. Sometimes it strikes a nerve, sometimes it's right, sometimes it's plausible but wrong, and sometimes it's just plain ridiculous. I accept the ridicule and criticism -- anyone who runs a blog about something that people care strongly about had better be prepared for that. If it isn't vulgar or too over the top, up it stays.
A third source would be y'all, but my occasional calls for topics meet with stony silence. Still, you've noticed that a particularly interesting or well-aimed comment will sometimes serve as the topic for the following article.
Even when I'm wrong, I can sometimes flush out stuff that we wouldn't know otherwise. Take the just previous Pants Finnegan column. Anonymous advises that Pants is Gordon's reference to an obstreperous new sales guy. Says it twice, in fact. He also instructs me to "stop overthinking stuff like this." Well, Anonymous, if I hadn't wondered why Gordon had created this character, who didin't seem to have reference to any "type" we knew from the station, we wouldn't have the benefit of your (apparent, and, I think, actual) inside information that Gordon was noodging this new sales star from San Diego and, presumably, the sales department generally. And we wouldn't know that Gordon sometimes does whole bits that are meaningful primarily to his colleagues, and not to us. Those insights are not going to overturn Obamacare, but they are of interest to the good folks who click over to My Ticket Confession.
So I'm going to keep listening between the lines, and throwing out guesses, and maybe we'll all learn a little something about this wonderful station that positively invites us to care about it on a personal basis.
And someday, maybe some of those guesses will come home to roost, and I'll be able to say that you read it here first.
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In other news: Did you hear Corby and Mike discussing Dan Bennett this afternoon? The subject was working on holidays, which the hosts don't have to do this year, the first time in a decade or so, since the early Susquehanna days. I laughed out loud in the Conestoga when they ridiculed Bennett for his judgment that a lot of new listeners, freed from their workplaces, would spend their holiday listening to the radio. And that it took him ten years to realize that this view was in error. Pretty rough on the ol' CTO.
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Confessors, I'm buried for the rest of the week and then off with Mrs. Plainsman for a vacation in cooler climes. Please feel free to do 90- and even 180-degree turns on subject matter in the comments. I will monitor comments and toss in a pfennig or two if I have a thought. I'll be back if I'm able, but it may be awhile before there's a new article. Thanks to all for observing the unwritten rules of civility of this site, and in advance for continuing to do so.
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Follow Your Plainsman on Twitter: @Plainsman1310
Email Your Plainsman: ThePlainsman1310@gmail.com
How about just letting the game come to you? If you have nothing to say, don't try and force some crazy off the wall speculation. Wait until you have something to say, and say it. Quality, not quantity.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's scanning electron microscope.
Ditto, 11:42 Anon.
ReplyDeleteThanks for picking up the typo, corrected. Thanks also for the trenchant advice.
ReplyDeleteAnd the two of you were checking this site at 11:42 p.m. and 4:04 a.m. because . . . .
Hey, forgot to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday. Have one, that's an order.
ReplyDeleteHope to be back with a new blast before you all jump ship to The Ticket Tribute.
Because I work a night shift, chief.
ReplyDeleteFirst, not everyone who reads this site is an old fart who thinks 11:42 pm is late. Also, not everyone who reads this site hails from your timezone. The ticket has plenty of westcoast p1s.
ReplyDeleteBut good luck with your blog. Hopefully it wont deteriorate as fast as josh's muscles in his battle with ALS. Poor guy may he rest in peace.
In before some moron accuses me of being the same dude as the other anon.
If it weren't for fake Greggo, Rotten Radio would've been on repeat cycle (for the 8th time) by 9 am this morning. Does anyone else find this to be kinda weird, kinda, I don't know, sad in a way? I wonder what's going through Greggo's head right now? You know he's got to be well aware of what's transmitting from The Ticket, all day. I mean, didn't they (rightly IMO) fire him, like what, 4 years ago? I know he's an important part of the station's history, but why can't they let it and him go?
ReplyDeleteI dunno, Greggo is a public figure and just like any other public figure he is fair game to make fun of.
ReplyDeletePlus it still gets a laugh out of me. Especially considering how little he has apparently changed from his stupid ways (From what I can tell from my admittedly limited viewpoint as a radio listener who infrequently tunes over to see what he's incoherently babbling about from time to time)
Also, newsflash, plainsman: People tend to stay up later on the eve of a national frickin holiday. No workie, no bedtimey
and jake is the messiah
all hail jake
i hate anions and onions
that is all
"Which means that if I'm going to generate new material on this site..."
ReplyDeleteI've said it time and time again, most of the time, you need only make a quick note and leave an open thread. On a blog like this, with P1s around, the "material" will generate itself. You are, IMHO, too speculative and intrusive (on what I recognize is your own blog). Then again, perhaps I'm just seeing what I want to. I wish this were more a general-purpose Ticket discussion blog, not your (lengthy, meandering, and rarely grounded) thoughts.
The first poster said it; "let the game come to you."
Those blogs/sites exist already. Try Grubes is My Leader and Remove Rowdy, they have what you're looking for.
ReplyDeleteI concur.
ReplyDeleteYeah, some of us also work in the service industry. You know, bartenders, servers, cooks, and the likes. And some, like me, don't get home until after 3 am.
ReplyDeleteMy two cents on the Greggo stuff.......I think it's a bit much. It's funny, but it's a bit much. It comes off as sort of beating a dead horse.
A few observations after listening to rotten radio all day:
ReplyDelete1) the ticket as a whole is a shadow of what it once was. You can tell how much better and "sharper" the station was back when the hosts were more engaged...it is easy to tell more time was spent in show prep and less time putting out records, forming bands, or taking exotic vacations all over the world..
2) the musers have especially gotten lazy and aren't near what they used to be..when those boys were in their prime, they were probably as talented of a radio show as there has ever been in talk radio...
3) despite the fact that corby beats me down more and more since he's become a full time host, that dude really is talented and made huge contributions in the past as a yuck monkey
4) even though we remember him as a punch line, greggo really was greatness back in the day. He contributed to the station becoming the success that it is as much as anybody ever has...
5) gordon keith is a comedic genius...
6) it sounds sappy, but as somebody who has listened to the station since "the loop" in 1994, I have realized just how much this station has been the "soundtrack" of my life for the last 18 years...I was in high school when the station started, and these silly bits have marked the time through high school, college, numerous jobs, girlfriends, marriage, good times, and bad times..like rhynes says, once it's gone there will NEVER be anything like it again...
@6:13 Anon
ReplyDeleteGreat points all around. I'm a Day1 loop listener too, and like you The Ticket has also been the soundtrack of my life. Listening today reminds me of so many events and eras of my life. I was in my early 20s when they came on the airwaves. Your analysis is right on the money. The old girl isn't what she used to be. All these bits make me nostalgic for the days of yuck monkey Corby, Greggo with Rhynes (when Rhyner was alive and he, not others, steered the hazed grayed and underway ship), and when the shows would talk and joke about things we all could identify with and share in. Not niche television, niche music, their own bands, exclusive-expensive vacations, and celebrities (on a umpteenth time daily basis, at least). You're also right about how you can hear the stepped up show prep in those old bits and exchanges. For the most part that doesn't exist anymore.
I love The Ticket, and Rhyner's statement about when it goes away are as true today and will be as true tomorrow as when he first spoke them. I feel a bit sorry for the Plainsman and many if not most of the readers and commenters of this blog because they didn't get to experience those early to mid years in an organic way. People like me and 6:13 Anon did, and boy are we sure lucky SOBs.
Yeah, feeling a little wistful and even bittersweet today. An entire day's worth of Rotten Radio can do that to you. Well, to me at least.
You're comparing day-to-day current programming versus basically 15+ years of greatest hits material. Not exactly a fair fight.
ReplyDelete...and I've heard lots and LOTS of failed bits amongst the gold.
ReplyDeleteI see what you are saying, but i am not necessarily comparing today's shows to the "greatest hits" being heard today...
ReplyDeleteHearing the old bits just reminds me how much "tighter" everything was in the late 90's and early 00's...
I still love the station, but the "day to day" now doesn't compare to then
I did love Rotten Radio today and it made me laugh at the gym for most of the 90 minutes I was there, but I do think that Plainsman is too busy looking at the leaves within The Ticket branch and not looking at the Cumulus Tree, the OTA radio trees, or the audio broadcasting forest.
ReplyDeleteWhile there are links from radio-info.com tell some of the story, please read up on the industry, to make your thoughts a bit more realistic.
I have gone through two major moves since 2007 but I still listen to The Ticket. FWIW, it has been the same format for over a decade: Musers have two to four topics which set up the rest of the station for the remainder of the day. Norm may interview somebody and go to another story (local or national). BaDD Radio will recap The Musers topics with some other pop culture talk. Hardline is 'lather,rinse.repeat'. It is not their fault entirely since statistics do show them that those who listen all day are outliers.
Today, Cumulus (Atlanta) makes the major decisions for every station they own. It can be seen and heard all over the USA, specifically San Francisco with other former Susquehanna-owned stations. The CBS Radio product announcement could even be the catalyst for Cumulus (with FCC approval) to buy out CBS Radio.
Honestly, there is no reason to compare the station outside of keeping some key dates in mind which do not really have much to do with The Ticket itself. It has more to do with people's options. Outside of other stations with live streams:
09/25/01 is when XM Radio started up with Sirius starting months later.
04/28/2003: iTunes store opens
08/05/2004: O&A go to XM Radio.
01/09/2006: Stern goes to Sirius.
10/2007: Greggo is terminated.
To me, "The Little Ticket" ended to me when The Rant became The Orphanage. As an adult, I would never actively listen to the radio on a Saturday morning until The Rant.
To the Anon's of the 6 pm hour. Very good points and I agree with most of them. Y'all are most of the reasons why I frequent this site, to see others who have the same yearn for the station as I do. Good thoughtful posts.
ReplyDeleteTo the Plainsman's last point - I thought it always stuck in Dan McDowell's craw that BaD Radio was required to take vacation when P1's were on vacation. I'm pretty sure he's of the opinion that leaving them in place during peak vacation hours is a good idea.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone corroborate? I think he goes on that mini-rant just before every vacation season.
A few thoughts from another blog.
ReplyDeletehttp://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=988abc206d1c89514cf8838dea487f28&topic=214739.0
Dallas – KRLD/”105.3 The Fan”: This is a market where both CBS and Cumulus own sports radio stations. It would basically be a coin flip between “The New School” on “The Fan” and the long-running “Musers” on KTCK/”1310 The Ticket” – though a scenario where the “Musers” would move to “The Fan” in favor of a “B&C” clearance on “The Ticket” is not out of the question.
ReplyDeleteBig things afoot?
ReplyDeleteThe above quote is from a story Mike R commented on 8 minutes ago on Facebook.
Mike's quote accompanying the story:
"so you thought this cbs/cumulus alliance is a non-story, huh?...fight through this until you get to the salient point ( and when you do, you'll know it) and then see if you still are thinking that...a merger, probably later than sooner, is coming"
http://sportsrantz.com/media/2012/07/01/boomer-and-carton-get-ready-for-your-close-up/
Is this the "birth" of a new "character" named the "overquoter"?
ReplyDeleteHuh, then maybe Plainsman's, on the surface, overreach where Pants Finnegan is concerned isn't such an overreach after all? Maybe. Myself and others on this blog commented a couple of weeks ago to the effect that this CBS-Cumulus partnering did not portend well for the future of The Ticket, at least not as we've come to know and love it. Rhyner's not one to make flippant comments. When he does make comments like this one -sometimes cryptically, sometimes overtly- it's usually best to pay heed, because the man is saying something for a reason.
ReplyDeleteTicket-Sense is tingling, and I don't like the feeling I'm getting. As the great Michael Scott once said to Todd Packer: "Hold on, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!". Let's just hope the landing gear works...
Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
ReplyDelete